I wonder how many readers are simultaneously upset by the situation in Kenya and enamored with Obama. Remember his press conference in Nairobi, where he made it clear that he doesn't want to take the steps necessary to allow Kenya's economy to develop?

Make connections!

The GSA might actually be rather subversive here, as it exposes these girls to something other than backward religious nonsense.

I remember once seeing a reference on Broadsheet to a "magazine for really cool girls," or something like that. Was it Cricket?

I was trying to avoid any unintentional humor.

This article appears above an article about a "trail of dead Iraqis."

I often wonder about the differing proportions of grief. It just doesn't seem logical to me. We make these kinds of value assessments of life and death all the time, and that does make sense in principle. This sort of thing, though, does not.

I just don't understand sports fandom at this level. It's one thing if somebody is on your school's team, and you know them or know people who do. The "professional sports religion" that grips so many reminds me of that shirt from The Onion that says "The Sports Team from My Area is Superior to the Sports Team From Your Area." It's so arbitrary.

Fans of Hawthorne Heights were clearly very upset at the sudden, still unexplained (I think) death of guitarist Casey Calvert. He helped create music that spoke to them. It seems sensible that this death might create a more intense (if perhaps quantitatively smaller) reaction than that of an NFL player. That doesn't seem to be the case, and I'm not sure why.

Related question: Why do the deaths of children seem to matter more? Why does the age of the victim matter?

Land reform is impossible under neoliberal policies, and you can't get an educated population when most of them can't afford privatized education.

Taiwan, like all the other Asian Tigers, developed its economy behind protectionist walls. The industrialized world didn't force them to adhere to any neoliberal "free trade" policies. Now contrast that with The Philippines, just a short distance away.

If you read so-called holy books literally, you should be killing infidels and such. If a book is really a holy book, how can you not read it literally? To pick and choose what you want to believe from a "holy" book is to act in bad faith, and/or engage in self-deception.

More to the point, nearly all religions/spiritualities/whatever are mutually exclusive. They can't all be true.

Incidents like this, and so many others, make this very clear. It's time to make a decision and take a stand. Try a little honesty.

In Roger Ebert's review, he mentions that the titular lieutenant is so disconnected from humanity that he (not Ebert) buys sex just for the sensation of someone touching him (not Ebert.)

Either the "holy" books are holy, or they are not. Either they mean what they say, or they don't.

It should read "its network."

So I'm supposed to respect this sort of thing? Don't try to say that these aren't the "real" Muslims.

The fundamentalists actually have the courage of their convictions. They're the true believers. Be honest with yourself. Either you believe in these fairy tales or you don't.

Birth rates are falling in most of the world, not just the developed world, for various reasons. Won't this eventually result in a falling population? Don't forget things like the "male pill." If that thing works, and is manufactured generically, think of the impact. Even without it, the trends seem clear, right?

The media/Congress/et cetera almost never talk about how Washington supports one (actually several) of the most vile regimes in the world, but they are so quick to demonize anybody (particularly in Latin America) who does a blasted thing for the poor.

If Christians and Muslims (and others) really believe in their religion, and really believe that their "holy books" are indeed holy, then they will in fact behave like the worst of the fundamentalists. Otherwise they act in bad faith. One can't pick and choose what to believe, if one his honest. It's either all right or all wrong, and it's all wrong. There is no such thing as god.

Since you asked, the U.S. was heavily involved in prolonging Angola's civil war. For one thing, the U.S. supported South African attacks on the country, with severe consequences. Fidel Castro sent forces to try to defend Angola, and they did their best, though they weren't nearly as successful as he claimed.

Speaking of Sarajevo, I wonder if the NATO bombing of the former Yugoslavia had results similar to these land mines.

Also, who won't sign the treaty banning land mines, all because they might somehow come in handy in Korea?

Let's take responsibility for our own actions.

Disabled people in Norway probably get vastly more help than in Angola.

In the not too distant future...

"Big McLargeHuge!"

"Splint Chesthair!"

"Bob Johnson! No, wait..."

It happens over there, it happens over here. We atheists aren't angry, we're exasperated. If it's not scientific, if there's no evidence, if your only reason for belief is "faith," then it's a delusion!

Oh, and mock the delusions of Wiccans all you want, but that "dirty hippy" slur is really mean-spirited.

People presumably care about droogoy. They would be affected badly if he/she committed suicide. Similarly, he/she presumably wants to live. Without those factors, you might have a point.

Can you not see the difference between droogoy and a hypothetical future child, or a fetus for that matter?

Religion stops a thinking mind, once again.

I hate this. Our media lambasts any democratically elected leader who does a damn thing for poor people, even smearing them as "dictators," but a dictatorship our government supports can do anything.